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| Friday, 25 June 2004 |
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Rs. 5.3 billion WB grant for Phase II of e-Sri Lanka project by Sudarshana Perera The World Bank has agreed to grant a US $ 53 million (Rs. 5.3 billion) soft loan in principle to implement Phase two of the eSri Lanka project. The World Bank team now in the country has successfully concluded negotiations with the government and Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA). The project report to facilitate the soft loan will be forwarded for the final approval of the World Bank Financial Board soon. The estimated cost of the entire project is US $ 83 million. The Japanese Social Development Fund is also expected to fund around US $ 1 million. Senior Advisor, National ICT Strategy , Informations Solutions Group of the World Bank , Nagy Hanna told the Daily News yesterday that the soft loan would be granted to gear the implementation of earmarked projects coming under the eSri Lanka initiative. The loan will be basically utilised to make all government institutions on-line to ensure speedy , efficient and people friendly service to the people. He said that the earlier loan of US $ 2-3 million granted by the World Bank was for the capacity building of ICTA and making some key government institutions on-line. Under phase two of the project all government bodies would be made on-line while harnessing the opportunity for all to re-group for major investments. "We would also initiate a social innovation fund to improve the software industry , IT education and teleco infrastructure in rural areas while putting more emphasis on developing local content to get the e-SriLanka initiative to go to grassroots level", he said. Commending the support extended by the new government towards the initiative, he said that ICTA was brought under Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse to ensure neutral implementation of the project since all government institutions are involved in it. An Inter-Ministerial Committee will be set up to attract the cooperation of all government departments for this major shake up in the administration of the country's affairs. He said that the World Bank was closely monitoring the implementation process of the project and added that he was pleased with the success achieved so far particularly with ICTA administration. "Our project is people specific and we want to make a turnaround in delivering services to people and interaction with government institutions greatly facilitated the e-Sri Lanka initiative will be a centre point in developing the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and educational structure in the country. I am very optimistic that the entire project would lead to major development in ICT infrastructure thus attracting private sector investments", he said. |
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